Shaken cocktails are made with cocktail shakers to create chilled, enjoyable mixed drinks. The shakers or shaking containers are generally partially filled with ice cubes, together with a mixture of liquid and/or flavoring ingredients at least one of which is an alcohol, and then shaken vigorously before serving. Shaken cocktails have a different texture and taste as compared to stirred cocktails. The texture of a drink can be described, for example, as how bubbly or fizzy, or how viscous (thick or thin), or how foamy or frothy, the drink tastes.
In efforts to aerate and texturize a drink, it was known to add multiple, small objects to cocktail shakers. For example, a multitude of small objects, such as wires, balls of wires, springs made of wire, whisks, or small gauge spheres, e.g., ball bearings, had been placed in drinks inside cocktail shakers, and then shaken. Yet, such efforts proved to be unsatisfactory and ineffective, because the aeration and texture of the shaken drinks were poor. Aside from poor functionality, it was difficult to remove a multitude of small objects from the drink and/or from pieces of crushed ice left over after shaking.
It was also known to skilled practitioners, such as bartenders, that shaking a cocktail with a large-sized ice cube produced a shaken cocktail of superior texture. A standard ice cube measures about 25 mm in each dimension, and the aforementioned large-sized ice cube was about double in size, e.g., and measured about 50 mm in each dimension. Yet, the use of the large-sized ice cube proved to be unsatisfactory in practice, because, among other things, it had to be frozen, used once, and then discarded. Moreover, the large-sized ice cube affected both the temperature and the dilution of the shaken drink, thereby modifying its flavor, balance, strength and aroma.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to avoid using a multitude of small objects or a large-sized ice cube with their above-described drawbacks to texturize and aerate a shaken drink, and to produce a shaken drink of superior texture and aeration.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The structural and functional components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.